6.  The applicant was born in 1966 and lives in Simferopol.
7.  On 2 August 1999 the applicant, a police officer at the material time, was arrested on suspicion of membership of a criminal association run by S. P., another police officer, and participation in armed robberies. On the same date his house was allegedly searched without a warrant.
8.  On 3 August 1999 the applicant signed a waiver of his right to legal representation. On the same date he confessed to having participated in group assaults on families I. and S. in August 1998 upon S. P.’s invitation. He also noted that he believed that the families were visited for collection of unpaid business debts in favour of third parties. According to the applicant, he notified the investigator that he was unable to see the record of his questioning as he had been suffering from eye cataracts.
9.  On 5 August 1999 the applicant was indicted. He signed the statement of indictment, having noted that he fully acknowledged his guilt and requested to be released from detention, since he needed in-patient treatment on account of his skin disease and eye cataracts, as well as surgery for the latter.
10.  On the same date the applicant obtained access to an advocate. It is unclear, however, whether the advocate was present during the applicant’s interrogation and indictment on that date.
11.  Also on the same date the applicant was remanded in custody as a preventive measure. On various occasions the applicant appealed against this measure, in particular, referring to an urgent need to have eye surgery and in-patient treatment for other medical conditions. However his requests were rejected.
12.  During the pre-trial investigation, the authorities questioned some 120 witnesses concerning over thirty episodes of various crimes, carried out some twenty reconstitutions of the crime scenes and ordered numerous expert assessments.
13.  On 20 July 2000 the investigation was completed and the applicant, along with eighteen other individuals charged for being involved in a criminal association membership, was committed for trial to the Supreme Court of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea (subsequently renamed the Court of Appeal of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea (hereafter “the Court of the ARC”).
14.  On 4 May 2001, following familiarisation of the defendants with the case-file materials and completion of other procedural formalities, the Court of the ARC held a preliminary hearing in the case and scheduled the trial for 5 June 2001.
15.  On 29 June 2001 the newspaper Flag Rodiny published an article entitled “Changelings with police epaulettes”, featuring in particular an interview with Sh., the judge presiding over the applicant’s case. The judge was quoted as saying that she was appalled by the audacious crimes committed by the defendants and their challenging conduct at court hearings.
16.  Having held some eighteen hearings between June and December 2001, the Court of the ARC adjourned the proceedings in connection with one of the defendants’ request to ensure recording of the hearings with technical equipment which was unavailable.
17.  On 15 May 2002 the Court of the ARC resumed consideration of the case and held some 150 hearings in the period ending 22 May 2004.
18.  The applicant alleged that on various occasions he and his co-accused had requested the removal of Judge Sh. from the proceedings on various grounds, including lack of impartiality; however, their requests had been rejected. The applicant did not provide copies of his requests for the removal of Judge Sh. or the decisions taken following their consideration.
19.  The Government alleged that the applicant had never lodged any requests for the removal of the judge during the trial. Such requests had been lodged only by one of his co-defendants, A. K., who had also requested on 29 January 2003 that the above newspaper article be added to the case-file. Those requests had been dismissed as unsubstantiated.
20.  During the trial, the applicant denied any encounter with the I. family. As regards the S. family, he acknowledged having visited them along with three other defendants to collect the debt owed to a third party at S. P.’s request. He contended that he had been in the kitchen while his companions had spoken with the hosts, that the hostess had given them money voluntarily, and that he had been unaware of any coercion taking place. He further retracted his confessions given during the pre-trial investigation in the advocate’s absence, alleging that at the material time he had been practically blind and unable to read the documents he was signing. He had signed the waiver of his right to be represented by an advocate under pressure from the investigator, who promised that in exchange for his cooperation he would be promptly released from custody to enable him to seek medical treatment.
21.  On 17 November 2004 the Court of the ARC pronounced its judgment, the text of which was presented on over two hundred pages and concerned over thirty counts of various crimes, including robberies, a murder and assaults committed by nineteen defendants collectively and individually against numerous victims. By this judgment, the applicant was convicted of a criminal association membership and two counts of armed robbery (against the families I. and S.). By way of evidence of his participation in the robberies, the court referred, primarily, to the confessional testimonies of his co-defendants, identifying him as their accomplice, and the testimonies of the members of the assaulted families given during pre-trial investigation and trial, in which they alleged to have recognised the applicant. The applicant’s confessional statements were not referred to by the court in the text of its judgment. The court sentenced the applicant to seven years’ imprisonment, banned him from occupying certain posts for a three-year term and ordered the confiscation of his property.
22.  In December 2004 and January 2005 the applicant, his lawyer, and his mother acting as his defence, submitted appeals in cassation against the applicant’s conviction. They presented the same version of events as proposed by the applicant during his trial and contended that the court had misinterpreted facts and wrongly applied the law. They challenged the testimonies given by the applicant’s co-defendants, alleging they had been given under duress, and testimonies given by the victims as ambiguous and unreliable. They further contended that all the evidence collected from the applicant in violation of his right to be legally represented should be excluded from the body of evidence. The appellants noted that immediately upon his arrest the applicant had informed the investigative authorities that he was almost blind and was unable to read the documents he was signing. The waiver of his right to be legally represented had not been genuine. On the contrary, the video-recording of the applicant’s initial questioning showed that he requested the assistance of a lawyer, referring to his poor health and vulnerable state. Lastly, the appellants complained that the sentence imposed on the applicant was disproportionately severe, particular regard being had to his state of health and lengthy pre-trial detention in conditions incompatible with it.
23.  On 12 December 2005 the applicant’s mother drafted a supplement to the above-mentioned appeals, in which she complained, inter alia, that Judge Sh. had not been impartial, since, as it transpires from her interview to the Flag Rodiny newspaper in June 2001, she had had a preconceived notion of the applicant’s guilt from the very beginning of the trial. The copy of this supplement contained in the case file bears no stamps or other evidence that it was admitted by the court for consideration or at least lodged with it.
24.  On 16 March 2006 the Supreme Court of Ukraine dismissed the applicant’s and his representatives’ appeals in cassation, having found that the trial court had correctly assessed the evidence and applied the law and that there was no appearance of any procedural violations which could have affected the outcome of the case.
25.  Prior to his arrest, the applicant had been diagnosed as suffering from immature cataracts in both eyes and neurodermatitis.
26.  On 2 August 1999 the applicant was placed in the Saky Temporary Detention Centre (“the ITT”), where, according to him, he was held in inhuman conditions (overcrowding, poor sanitary arrangements and risk of pressure from inmates because he was a policeman).
27.  On 9 August 1999 the applicant was transferred to the Simferopol no. 15 Pre-trial Detention Centre (“the SIZO”).
28.  Upon his arrival, the applicant was examined by the SIZO medical staff and placed under dispensary supervision for immature aggravated cataracts in both eyes, diffused eczema, and chronic gastritis.
29.  On 28 February 2000 the applicant informed the Prosecutor of the ARC that he had started a hunger strike in protest against being denied the medical assistance he needed.
30.  On 27 March 2000 the applicant was examined by the medical committee of the ARC Semashko Hospital, which concluded that at the material time he was suffering from scabies, eczema, chronic prostatitis, nephroptosis, gastritis and reactive hepatitis. It further found that the applicant needed in-patient treatment in a specialised facility for his skin diseases and that his cataracts were mature and needed to be surgically removed after treatment of inflammatory processes.
31.  On 5 July 2001 another medical committee determined that the applicant was still suffering from eczema, gastritis and mature cataracts, for which he needed surgery.
32.  On 16 July 2001 the applicant was further examined by the head ophthalmologist of the ARC and it was recommended that eye surgery be performed promptly to prevent potential aggravations such as full loss of eyesight and eruption of the eyeballs. The applicant was further advised that in order for the surgery to be effective he needed first to obtain therapeutic inpatient treatment and be supervised by an ophthalmologist for up to two months after the surgery.
33.  On 17 August 2001 the Court of the ARC adjourned hearings to allow for the applicant’s eye treatment.
34.  On the same day the SIZO administration requested the Court of the ARC to consider releasing the applicant from custody, because it was impossible to provide the therapeutic treatment he needed in the SIZO. However, this request was not granted.
35.  On 3 September 2001 the applicant was taken to the eye clinic for surgery. However, having allegedly been advised by medical professionals that the success of the surgery was at risk because of his untreated skin inflammations, he refused to be operated on and returned to the SIZO.
36.  On 2 September 2005 the SIZO administration petitioned for the applicant’s release from detention, referring to the lack of necessary facilities in the SIZO for the applicant’s proper treatment and risk of permanent loss of eyesight.
37.  On 9 September 2005 the applicant was assigned the first (most advanced) category of invalidity on account of complete loss of eyesight.
38.  On 2 August 2006 the applicant was released from custody, as he had already served his sentence.